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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1965)
Cbe Battalion COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1965 gjNTESTSf^ Number 194 Stop The Presses English Institute Nears Completion For 45 Teachers By LANI PRESSWOOD Dozens of people watch while a murderer pounds his victim to death on a darkened city street. A woman is attacked on a side walk and lies injured while pass- ersby ignore her cries of help. A man riding on a subway is subjected to a mugging while other passengers in the car look the other way. These aren’t scenes from a far- out movie or episodes created by some writer of the macabre. These things happened in the U. S. A. of 1964 and 65. When newspapers carry these and similar stories, it shocks a disbelieving nation. People shake their heads, talk about the “as phalt jungle” where it’s all hap pening, and tell you they’re per sonally glad they don’t live in such an inhuman place. I wonder if it’s really that simple though. If you can sit down with a map and pinpoint a few spots and say this place is guilty while the other areas aren’t. I don’t see these as isolated events. They seem instead to be the most intense and brutal examples of Ian attitude v/hich is growing more and more common. People are afraid to “get in volved.” What a lovely, consci ence-easing phrase — I just did n’t want to get involved. It’s not that I didn’t care, I just didn’t want to get involved. Don’t you see ? No I don’t. I don’t understand good swim mers who stand on the bank and watch people die. Or people in a restaurant who sit frozen while someone chokes on a chick en bone lodged in their throat. Or doctors who tell you one thing when it’s a matter of ther apy for an injury and another when you mention that they might be called to testify in a suit. Or professors who keep their knowledgeable opinions on public issues to themselves al though academic freedom at their schools is ostensibly guaranteed. Or people who would write let ters to newspaper editors if they could do so under the cloak of anonymity. Or witnesses to crimes who carry their knowledge to the grave rather than get mixed up in a trial. What is everybody scared of? Is it the same sort of “fear” that prompts a majority of col lege graduates to talk in terms of security in their future jobs in stead of opportunity? Maybe that’s the right word, security, or rather insecurity. It’s a fashionable one anyway and it gets the message across. But it’s not easy to draw a line and say this is where inse curity ends and fear begins. Whether you prefer to call peo ple insecure of scared, they are. This might be the result of the Depression, whose imprint is still visible on the generation which endured it. Or maybe it’s be cause of the prevalency of the idea that the world is spinning so fast you better cling to your niche with everything you’ve got because once you slip out of place you may never again be able to regain a foothold. But most likely it’s a side effect of The Bomb—that awe some, inscrutable institution whose presence has been haunt ing man ever since he realized just how monstrous his creation really was. Whatever the reason, the feel ing persists that these scattered but commonplace events are in some vague but definite way linked with the callous refusal to try and help a fellow human being who is being beaten to death outside your window. People are running scared. They work scared, they vote scared, and they live scared. And knowing what scared peo ple are capable of scares me. Students in English classes at 41 high schools will benefit from a new program nearing comple tion at Texas A&M. The Eng lish Institute, among the first in the nation, ends Friday. The program for 45 high school teachers began early in June. The teachers are completing nine credit hours of study in three graduate courses, plus wrokshop sessions. In the workshops they are preparing teaching units in composition, study of the lan guage and literature. “I think one of the things the teachers will go away with is a more professional attitude,” Professor J. S. Jernigan said. He is director of the English Institute offered by the A&M Department of English. Funding is under the National Defense Education Act. Both the participants and the A&M English faculty express satisfaction with the program. “If a similar institute is ap proved for next year, as we hope, I think it is pretty likely to be much the same because the par ticipants seem pleased. I have talked with many of them about this,” Jernigan said. Some of the 45 teachers, in fact, want to re peat next year. This cannot be done. “Seventeen of the teachers have decided since they came that they wish to pursue further grad uate studies in English here,” the director said. The English Institute at Texas A&M is described as part of the increasing interest at state and national levels in updating and strengthening the English curri culum in schools. Primary purpose of the Eng lish Institute here and on 104 other campuses is to make teach ers better subject matter special ists and to acquaint them with the latest principles, techniques and materials. At A&M the teachers had an opportunity to study the use of closed-circuit television in teaching English, as an example. Lt. Governor Smith Speaks As Firemen’s School Continues Here RICHARD DORN Grad Student Dies In Wreck For the second time in less than a week, death has claimed a Texas A&M student. Funeral services were held Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Woods- boro for Texas A&M graduate student Richard Conrad Dorn. Dorn died Monday in a Corpus Christi hospital from injuries sus tained in an auto accident July 19. A 1965 graduate of A&M, Dorn was doing graduate work in mar keting here this summer. He lived in Hensel Apartments. Broken Leg Doesn’t Stop Persistent Aggie Mother Mrs. Joe P. Smith always dreamed of attending Texas A&M. When her opportunity came this summer she didn’t allow traffic accident injuries to pre vent her from continuing in the English Institute for high school teachers. She was back in class two days after being released from the hospital. Her right leg is still in a cast. Mrs. Smith is among 45 Eng lish teachers attending the eight- week institute which ends July 30. “It’s the fulfillment of a life long dream to attend A&M,” Mrs. Smith said. “From the minute I was big enough to breathe, I heard about A&M.” The Smiths are graduates of Louisiana Polytechnic Institute. He is a gasoline plant superin tendent at Refugio; she teaches at Refugio High School. Their son, Jerry Paul, is an Aggie. This September he begins studies in the College of Veteri nary Medicine. “When my son heard I was coming to A&M, he was quite happy in a way. But he said, ‘just wait till I tell my friends my mother is going to Aggie- land’,” Mrs. Smith recalled. Mrs. Smith’s car was struck by a careening auto near LaGrange. She was enroute to College Sta tion after a weekend at home when the three-car wreck oc curred on a Sunday afternoon. She was hospitatlized for two weeks with a broken heel and other injuries. “I kept begging to come back to school,” the teacher said. “The idea of having to quit was more than I could take.” Missing two weeks of graduate course work means her grades will be marked “incomplete” as the institute ends. She has per mission to complete work later this summer. “Certainly I couldn’t make it in class here without a lot of help,” Mrs. Smith said. Her roommate, Mrs. Ann Riley of Sweeny, brought meals to their room so Mrs. Smith would not have to climb steps and helped in other ways. Other participants in the Eng lish Institute have helped, too. An address by Lt. Governor Preston Smith and a public dem onstration of fire-fighting tech niques highlighted Wednesday's activities in the 36th annual Texas Firemen’s Training School. Texas A&M is hosting the school, which began July 25 and will run through August 6. Over 2,000 firemen are participating in theevent. First week of the school is for municipal firemen while the second will be for those en gaged in industrial fire protec tion. See related pictures, page 3 Smith’s speech came at a ban quet honoring all visiting digni taries at 5:30 p.m. in Duncan Dining Hall. In the brief talk he praised the school and its benefits for the public. He earlier attended a coffee reception along with other state officials in the Ramada Inn Ball room. Among the visitors were House Speaker Ben Barnes, Railroad Commissioner Byron Tunnell, and numerous state senators and representatives. The demonstration began at 7:30 p.m. at Brayton Field, near Easterwood Airport. It was held for the benefit of city, county and state government officials as well as the general public. The firemen battled butane gas fires, bulk fuel storage, car fires, house fires, and airplane blaze, and numerous other fires. They also performed rescue operations in various simulated situations. Conducted by A&M’s Engineer ing Extension Service, the school is sponsored by the State Fire men’s and Fire Marshals’ Associ ation. Funeral Services Held Sunday For Professor Of Statistics LT. GOVERNOR ARRIVES Lt. Governor Preston Smith, decked out in fireman’s grab, chats with Hal. H. Hood of the Dallas County fire depart ment as they watch firemen go through their paces at the Fireman’s Training School Wednesday. A special dem onstration was held in his presence at Brayton Field. He spoke at a banquet later in the afternoon. Summer Theater Proves A Success Funeral services were held Sunday for Dr. William S. Con nor, Jr., Texas A&M professor of statistics. He died unexpected ly early Friday night at the fam ily residence, 503 Nagle Street, after an apparent heart attack. Dr. Connor had joined the Texas A&M faculty last Septem ber as a visiting professor in the Institute of Statistics. He had a national reputation for the design of experiments and was senior co-author of a number of publications issued by the U. S. Bureau of Standards. He was the author of more than 30 technical papers. Survivors include his wife here, three children by a former mar riage and his parents. The chil dren are William Clayton Con nor, Richard Carpenter Connor and Martha Lynn Connor, all of Durham, N. C. His parents are William S. Connor of Waterboro, S. C., and Mrs. Mary Connor, Co lumbia, S. C. Funeral services were held in All Faiths Chapel on the Texas A&M campus. The Rev. Walter McPherson, pastor of the A&M Methodist Church, officiated. Burial was in the College Station City Cemetery. Callaway-Jones Funeral Home had charge of ar rangements. Dr. Connor came to A&M’s In stitute of Statistics from the Re search Triangle Institute at Dur ham, N.C. He earlier served six years with the Bureau of Stand ards. Dr. Connor also had been with industry as a consultant and on the faculties of the University of Kentucky and Davidson Col lege. He listed membership in varied professional and honorary socie ties. Among these are Phi Beta Kappa, Institute of Mathemati cal Statistics, Biomerics Society, and the Royal Statistical Society. He was a fellow of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Connor completed under graduate studies at Davidson College in 1943 and graduate studies at the University of North Carolina in 1951. Statistics recently compiled by the Aggie Players indicate that summer theater is about to be come a permanent part of sum mer activity on the A&M campus. During June and July the Players presented 11 student- directed plays, two readings, and a variety show in the Fall out Theater Workshop. A total of 70 people directed, acted, work ed on stage crews, or partici pated in some way in one or more productions. Attendance for the six nights of shows ranged from 50 to 115, averaging almost 83 per night. Total attendance, which is be lieved to have been affected by the fact that the workshop was not air-conditioned until most of the shows were past, was 496. All of the plays presented were directed by students in Theater Arts 383, Techniques of Direct ing. Although the directing course is not being offered this semest er, C. K. Esten, instructor for theater courses offered through the Department of English and director of the Aggie Players, has announced two plays to be presented August 6 and August 9. The first play, “Sharon,” by Kipp Blair, a three-year member of the Players, is being directed by Tim Lane. Lane previously directed “Hello Out There,” by William Saroyan, in May, and “Courage, Brother,” a play of his own, in June. The second play, “A Child Is Crying,” by B. L. Lenoir, will be directed by Lenoir, who also di rected “The Fisherman,” by Jon athan Tree, presented July 8. Both directors were students in the directing course the first summer semester. Esten expressed pleasure with the summer theater workshop’s success. Full-Scale Educational TV Begins This Fall EDUCATIONAL TV MONITOR This is one of the educational television monitors being installed in various buildings on the Texas A&M campus. The program will begin full-scale operation in the fall. At the present time the system is being used chiefly in English instruction. By JERRY EARL and DON MIKA Special Writers Beginning Sept. 1 the Educa tional Television Program at Texas A&M will begin its first full-scale operation, according to Mel Chastain, program director. At the present time, a series of tapes is being used by Dr. Lee Martin, head of the program, as an aid in teaching English. In the Academic Building, these tapes are being viewed over monitors in the classroom itself. Seven classrooms In the Aca demic Building are now ready for use. More monitors are being placed in Francis Hall as well as in the biology building. By September, 730 students per class period can be aided by this new TV system. In the summer of 1964 the A&M Board of Directors gave final authorization for the equip ment and construction of an edu cational television station. Upon completion of the new library, the station will be moved to the old library where it will be housed on the first three floors. From the location in the library, programs will be trans mitted to almost every classroom building on the campus. Meticulous care was taken to insure each student audio and visual clarity while viewing the monitors. These studies on view- ability concluded that 26 feet was the maximum distance which any student could be away from the monitor. Chastain believes this station will have the best television equipment availiable on the mar ket. When the station begins broad casting by closed circuit radio frequency this fall it will have two black and white Marconi cameras, an Ampex 2000 video tape recorder, one 1100 Ampex tape recorder, one studio vidicon for still pictures and a control panel that will equal almost any other commercial or educational television station. Although the station is now designed for closed circuit opera tion, future plans call for UHF broadcasting within 36 months. Because UHF educational broad casting performs a public service, the Department of Health, Edu cation and Welfare will match the funds put up by A&M. Until UHF broadcasting is begun, the station will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every week day using closed circuit program ming. Pilot subjects for fall 1965 will be English, Accounting, Biology and Psychology. Educational television will en able the professor to pre-record the lecture in the morning for re-play several hours or days later. The ability of television to magnify very small objects under microscopes to full 23-inch monitor size will afford students an opportunity to see things which they might not otherwise have been able to see. Educational television will also allow important lectures from authorities to be recorded and played back at any time. If the professor wants to supplement his lecture with certain programs related to the subject, this too can be arranged. “We don’t intend to promote ‘black-box’ education at Texas A&M. Effective educational tele vision is a supplement to, rather than a substitute for education,” said Chastain. Chastain also noted that there will most likely be a professor in the class to answer questions by the students when television is used widely. Future plans for educational television will also include the purchase and operation of a mo bile studio. The advantages of having a mobile studio are center ed around the flexibility of tele cast locations. Wildlife projects in the field can be taped for re-play the next day or the same equip ment can be taken into labora tories for live telecasting of com plicated experiments which are too difficult to be transported to the main studio for taping. Another project under careful planning is future membership in the Texas Educational Microwave Project. This project is a system of microwave towers linking eight colleges and universities together. This network was started in 1960 under a grant made by the De partment of Health, Education and Welfare for the advancement of educational television in Texas. To join this network it would be necessary to construct three microwave towers between Col lege Station and Austin at a cost of $300,000. The purpose of this system is to transmit to all member sta tions educational tapes which individual stations may lack. The system also gives a wider scope and selection of subjects which would enhance the programming material of each individual station.